Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Okay, everyone seems to be looking back on the glorious victories and crippling failures of this year as it quickly vanishes into the chasms of time, so I'm going to join in a bit.

I'm quite happy that I've managed to put out a lot of new stuff this year, including a new on-going series amongst other bits and bobs. I've had my first gallery and even scored some paid freelance illustration gigs as well as making a small sum with online sales. The Comics Evenings at Travelling Man are thriving and the comic workshops myself and Daniel are putting on have been met with a lot of success as well.

I reckon now that I'm finally making enough money to justify spending one or two days a week drawing and creating stuff that 2010 should be even better though. I've just built this DIY macro photography studio which I'm hoping will get a lot of use when snapping new products for Etsy. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to keep Big Bang rolling along at a steady pace, because I've never had the patience to do that before.

But that's all boring. In terms of real comic book accomplishments I'd like to turn your attention to some triumphs in the published and self-published world that have excited me beyond comparable belief this year:

The former is a beautifully mundane and bizarrely captivating look at the melodramatic, grizzly underbelly of spouse-dom in domestica. Riddled with panic and suspicion, played out masterfully and drawn meticulously, this is a series that has not failed to make me squeal like a little girl when I've seen new issues advertised in Previews. The humanism of it all stays with you like the residual hum of whisky on the tongue, and this series, coupled with the handful of other delights that the creator has to offer, has made me convert to his cause indefinitely. If his name is on it, I'll pick it up, and you should too.

The latter came completely out of nowhere for me. If I'm being completely honest, I picked up the first issue of this purely because of its design. It's a chunky booklet, wrapped in a textured brown card cover, with imprints and dashes of colour placed around it, reminiscent of that package you sometimes get in the mail that looks so aesthetically pleasing that you almost don't want to tear into it. But, of course, you do and sometimes, like in this case, it's totally worth it. Jeremy Bastian uses ink made from the tears of angels, and applies it to the paper using unicorn horns and the bones of great dead artists. His line-work, sense of composition and not least of all the confidence and flair with which he approaches our well-formed ideas of comic book conventions, is as refreshing as it is breathtaking. What's more, the story is like all of those "cool" pirate movies and books and comics that were popular not so long ago, but if they actually were really, really cool.

Favourite Graphic Novel2008 saw the release of Joshua W. Cotter's Skyscrapers of the Midwest, which made this category a cake walk last year. This year is a little trickier. There have been a decent number of books that got me excited, but at the end of the day I'd have to give the cup to John Pham for Sublife vol.1. Some of the material in this volume was originally serialised in Mome, which I'm a devout reader of, so whether or not that had some major influence on my anticipation for its release or my investment in the characters prior to its release I'm not sure. Either way, reading the whole thing together in one gorgeously produced book was a whole other kettle of fish.

Much like the title suggests, this is a walk through suburban life on one particular street in some unnamed location of America. The subtleties of the surroundings and the overbearing sense of fear and insecurity they bring makes the world almost equally important to what's happening in it, and nails a perspective for you to take on the characters, even as the story is just starting out. There are a lot of loose story lines that sometimes briefly intersect, but I suspect the longer the story gets, the more significant each neighbour will become to one another and the more loose ends will tie together. Not that they need to, mind, but I've got a feeling they might. Even in this slim volume enough happens to satisfy your buck, and if John Pham decided to never release a second book there's enough in there for it to stand alone, in my opinion.

But that's irrelevant, because he is releasing a second volume, I've seen pictures of it, so there.

Triumphs of the Small Press CommunityThere have been loads of these, and I'd like to name-drop every single member of the Paper Jam Comics Collective for their group and solo efforts this year. We've made a ton of progress on becoming the ultimate comics juggernaut and everybody is stepping up, or has stepped up, their game. However, I think the cup for Most-Progress-Made would have to go to one Andy Waugh for the multitude of mediums and audience he has monopolized this year.

Andy put out this really succinct, really witty, really sweet and unbearably funny comic ages ago called Melanchomic, and instead of living off continual sales from this masterpiece, as he could have done, he decided to make himself known to we poor saps at the Comics Evenings and proceeded to "show us how it's done". You can read all about his accomplishments in the comic world and outside of it on his blog, but what I'd really like to draw your attention to is his latest title Coupledom.

Okay, it's another auto-bio comic, it's small press and it's A5. Some people can't get behind that formula to begin with and some people plainly find auto-bio self-indulgent. If you're one of these people, you might not get a lot out of Coupledom, but you will get something. That's because Andy uses this tried-and-tested method simply as a mouth-piece for what he wants to say. And true, sometimes he just wants to say "boobies" but we all like to say "boobies" once in a while, it's what makes us human. Indeed, it's what makes Andy's work human.

Now, some think that everything a person does should be at least 180 degrees in some other direction to the things they've done previously, and while Coupledom might not be miles away from Melanchomic, they're not exactly twins. More like friends of the family who you only see at Christmas. There is a wealth of originality in there. Not least of all is Andy's penmanship, which over the course of the years seems to have careened from Chris Ware-esque rigidness to Eddie Campbell-esqe sketchy-but-not-messy flowiness and back again with ease. It's the ease that really gets to me. I've never really asked Andy how long it takes him to produce something or how many times he throws a rage and rips everything up, but even if he is a bubbling cauldron of self-defeat like I am, he hides it really well. His lines move like ballerinas on ice.

Anyway, he's not the only one who has done well for himself. Here's a list of comics you should check out next time you're in Travelling Man:

A showcase anthology that Andy Waugh is editing (working title: Show and Tell)An anthology that Daniel Clifford is editing (working title: Adventure Arena)A zombie apocalypse story that Martin Newman has everybody involved in and psyched about (working title: Project Z)Big Bang Issue Two ...if you like.

Special thanks to Andy for manning my stall for ages while I was wandering around, and also for taking these pictures of my vile self and all the things I had for sale:

Check me out, selling stuff to Gareth Brookes - who do I think I am, Elvis? Anyway, following the convention, I've updated my Etsy Shop with both items I was debuting there - The Big Bang Issue One and The Crumpet Time Badge Set - you can also now pick up a copy of The Big Bang from Travelling Man Newcastle, and you'll be able to pick both items up from all Travelling Man stores at some point in the very near future when I figure out how I'm going to do it.

Friday, 20 November 2009

I picked up The Big Bang from the printers yesterday and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I will be selling copies for £2.50 at Thought Bubble this weekend, and for about the same price in dollars on my Etsy Shop after this weekend. There will also be copies for sale at Travelling Man (all four stores) when I get around to mailing them out. As for now, here's a video preview (an idea that I stole from Fantagraphics).

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

So The Big Bang Issue One is complete and will be ready to pick up from the printers on Thursday afternoon. This has easily been the most labour-intensive comic I've worked on, purely because I aimed to do more than before and in less time than before. I read through everything I had after it was finished, and the feel is completely different to most of my other titles - by which I don't mean it was some other-worldly magical experience, just very different. The fact that myself and the illustrious Mr. Alexi Conman planned 3 issues before I had set pen to paper means this first issue actually feels like a first issue - it's a beginning as opposed to a "see how many ideas I can cram into 16 pages" kind of affair.

Most of my time between now and its launch will be spent doing all other manner of preparation for Thought Bubble, and after Thought Bubble I intend to start work on Issue Two and also on making a record with my band Sleepwalk. We're not a 50's Rock'n'Roll band, but as the war continues to rage in my mind as to which televised version of Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry kicks more ass, I'm certainly considering crossing the genre boundary. If it wasn't for stupid Keith Richards and the god damn Allman Brothers butting in on the second one I'd probably go with that, but the other has crazy beehive-sporting hipster girls doing the twist.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Hello all. So anyone who read my Thought Bubble Minterview will know that I plan to release a new title by the name of The Big Bang at that very comic convention on 21st November. I'm still trying to keep most of the ins-and-outs of the project hush hush until it gets released, but for the meantime here is one panel from one of nine finished pages:

I still have seven left to go, and covers, but I'm confident I'll get it done in time (for some reason!)

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Just like I said I would, here's another post (astonishment!). As many of you already know, I went to Mike's 30th as the Jeffrey Brown character, Bighead. I think it worked out pretty well, even though there were only about 5 people who knew what I was supposed to be and everyone else kept referring to me as "White Man" or "Sperm Man" or "Giant Sperm". Anyway, here are some pictures:

And here, for people who think I just walk the walk and don't talk the talk, is my Thought Bubble Minterview. I'm such a pathetic loser...

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

So I just updated my Etsy Shop with some of the unfortunate original art work that didn't sell at the Mushroom Works exhibition. I was told no one sold much, so my cheque for £3.60 wasn't as much of a slap in the face as one would naturally take it to be.

I also just finished an e-mail interview for the Thought Bubble Blog which you should be able to read soonish, and I've leaked the title of my forthcoming big project (which I plan to start actually drawing tomorrow if I can). So watch this space and I'll let you know when it goes live.

I haven't posted much on here for a long time but I intend to start making posts at least weekly from now on - there's always loads to report, but that's usually why I never get around to it! One of the big things is that the workshop facilitation enterprise that myself and one Daniel Clifford created - Jack & Daniel's Comic Book Workshops - is starting to take off. We're doing two sessions this weekend for BBC Blast and we have a ton of gigs lined up with local libraries, Seven Stories Children's Book Centre and even Bede's World!In other news, I spent some time today stitching together a few accessories for my top secret costume which I'll be wearing to the Comics and Games themed 30th Birthday party of long-standing comics bud and boss at Travelling Man, Mike Thompson. I will definitely be posting pictures when it's complete!

Tuesday, 8 September 2009

So everyone must know who Andy Waugh is by now right? He's the one who did that small press comic called Melanchomic that was really funny, witty, poignant, slice-of-life and loved by all. So much so in fact that he's been able to consistently sell copies of it for what seems like decades without having to offer a follow up, while me and Gary Bainbridge have piles of Rusty Nail and Clean Living In Talsatia growing strange fungi in abandoned corners of our homes and spend most of our waking life tearing hair out wondering what the hell everybody wants from us.

Anyway, a couple of months ago I found out that Andy has indeed been cooking up a new comic entitled "Coupledom" which he'd better hope is as good as his usual standard of comic because psychos like me will have a thing or two to say about it after he's made us wait this long. Anyway, upon hearing this news at one of the Paper Jam meetings, I proceeded to tenuously link the theme of our 24-Minute Comic (Smooth + Monkey's Bottom) to a faux-advertisement for the then mysterious and unnamed project, which Andy took a liking to despite it being a bit offensive.

He then astonishingly asked if he could include it in the project, and I told him "No fucking way! It's shit!" but did offer to do a cleaner version later that he could use, if I didn't regret the whole idea after about 24 Hours. So after months of procrastination, I set pen to paper today because I heard he was coming upon the final stages of creation. And here's the page:

Saturday, 1 August 2009

I decided against my usual "funny" or "witty" title-making for this post, because I need a moment of extreme fanboy sincerity. Those of you among us who do not know of the wonderful assemblage of musical delights that one John Darnielle has been assembling under the name "The Mountain Goats" for the last 18 years, shame on you. They sprung out of the rafters for me not that long ago and have set up lodgings in my brain, ear drums and those little hums that slip past your lips when you're not thinking about it.

Among their consistently brilliant and well-written tracks is one by the name of Oceanographer's Choice from the album Tallahassee. This song might not be the stand-out track from their library, or even from this album for that matter, but it does open with these lines "Well, guy in a skeleton costume comes up to the guy in the Superman suit, runs through him with a broadsword. I flip the television off..." - which invoked in me a perfect visual for a poster.

I had no reason to create this poster, but that made it an extremely beneficial process for my current mind-set. It's been too long since I've just drawn for my own enjoyment, and I'm exceptionally happy with how it turned out. I'm looking into somehow getting it to the band in case they might be able to use it for something, but will be happy enough to just have it kicking about in my portfolio if not. And here, gentle reader, it is:

Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Gary Bainbridge produced this fine strip at one of the Paper Jam Comics meets as a response to a discussion that arose about the vile and dreadful weekly strip I produced for the Courier once upon a time (which you will never see again, so don't even ask!). I demanded he send it to me at once since I have nothing to report lately on the blog, so here it is in its original form:

And again in glorious technicolour!

If any one else out there would like to help me bury the past by offering their own "all-that-could-have-been" three-panellers please do send away and I'll make sure they're seen.

Thursday, 23 July 2009

I've been a bit rubbish at keeping on top of the blog lately, so here's some stuff that was breaking news a few weeks ago and some other stuff that's still more or less breaking news.

Firstly, I updated my Etsy Shop with some prints, and I changed my username to crumpettimecomics because it was binkythedoormat7 previously, and that's just retarded. I also took some new photos for some of the items, and in the process Siobhan caught this picture of our new kitten Lua posing with my postcard set:

Secondly, the exhibition at Mushroom Works is now underway, so if anyone out there still hasn't been down to check it out you most certainly should! There are some incredible artists exhibiting and the walls are teaming with talent. I'll have some photos to show you soon.

Finally, I produced the EP cover for O'Messy Life's second EP Green Posies Growin' Gangrene Below 'Em and here it be:

Friday, 3 July 2009

Started work on some new bits for the Mushroom Works exhibition, but I'll save those for the occasion. The launch night is Friday 17th, so come along if you can, it should be a swell night. In the meantime, here is the wallet I designed for Boreal, in all of its corporeal glory:

Saturday, 27 June 2009

Okay, things got a little messy over the course of those last few posts, so I've deleted some stuff and swapped some other stuff around. Here is what you need to know: There are updates on my real website, so go have a gander. The Titus Andronicus poster is now being used for the Heaton Games Society, because apparently the gig wasn't confirmed when I drew the poster and the band turned down the offer to play the UK. Here's the second version:

Events-wise, I'll be in Sunderland this weekend, because the city council are putting on a big ol' festival, and we're going to have a comic stall there and maybe do some workshops too. By we, I mean myself, Gary Bainbridge, Andy Waugh, any members of the Paper Jam Comics Collective who fancy it, and Durham's finest, the Mallard Small Press crew (or some vague approximation of the above).

More impressively, I've been chosen to exhibit some work at The Mushroom Works Gallery, as part of their upcoming celebration of Illustration 'Quite the Character'. The exhibition will be running between 18th July - 29th Aug and I'll be producing lots of new stuff to show and sell for the occasion. More details will follow when I've been down to meet them on Monday!

Thursday, 14 May 2009

Well that's it, I've now been officially promoted (demoted?) from university student to real life starving artist. With no more essays or exams to think about it means I can finally get down to drawing, and panicking that I'll never make it and being broke. The good news is, that during my hibernation I managed to set myself up a few jobs for when I was done. One of these jobs is a wallet design for Boreal, a small collective of art appreciators who aim to promote the work of artists, graphic/textile designers and graffiti maestros (from both established and non-established camps) through a series of limited edition, hand-crafted wallets, bags etc.

The second is a strip for a project that poets Andy Croft, Bill Herbert and Paul Summers are working on, which revolves around a curious incident involving a stray dog, a fashion model and the Moscow Metro line. More on that when I figure it out myself!

The third and final thing is a doodle for the small press page on the Thought Bubble website, which I should hopefully have done in the next week or so. Anyone who doesn't know what Thought Bubble is... what are you? A schmuck?! Gawan, geddoutahere! - Thought Bubble is the best, fastest-growing and most Leeds-based comic convention of the past two years and this third year will be even better. One of the reasons for that is because it will make misanthropic small pressers like me get their act together and produce shiny new things for the occasion. I won't have this blasted internet ruin the surprise of what shiny new thing that might be, but suffice it to say that I'm aiming to do things way out of my league and I have been discussing the operation with a trusted writer/artists/creative type, who for the purposes of this blog will remain anonymous.

In the meantime, did I mention that we're having a launch party at the end of the month? Friday 29th May at the Star and shadow will see the launch of the 5th Paper Jam Comics Collective anthology Robots...and that, and will feature live music, short films, comics, cakes, sweets and all other manner of fun and excitement. It's £4 or £3 to members of the cinema, and the anthology will be available for a special price on the night. Here's a sample from the four-pager myself and Mr. Ian Mayor put together for it:

Monday, 20 April 2009

A gracious thank you to writer, comic book fan, small press appreciator, long-standing friend of Travelling Man and supporter/home-made cake maker of The Paper Jam Comics Collective, Stacey Whittle, for the inclusion of Costume Party in her small press Top 5 on the SFX Magazine blog, which you can read here. Greatly appreciated!

Saturday, 28 March 2009

Newcastle's Student Radio asked me to do a flyer for them, which I did. It looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Oscar from Sesame Street, cross-bred with me. Artists out there, do you ever find that a lot of your pictures, even of weird dog-faced monster teens, end up looking like yourself? No... just me then? Anyway, you might notice I did that thing where there's a speech bubble coming out of a microphone that I did on the Comedy Festival illustration I did for Narc. I don't know what this is, I realise microphones don't speak, or emit any sound for that matter, so not sure what I'm going for really, but there we go. This is probably going to be the last proper illustration or comic I'm gonna for a month or two because apparently being in your third and final year of university requires work being done, so this will have to suffice for now, sorry!p.s. these are two sides of one flyer, not one long weird flyer cut down the middle!

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

The Portfolio and Store sections on my website have been updated with a couple of new things. Robot postcards are go! Also, this blog is now the official News page, so you'll never miss an episode again. Things are well.

Sunday, 8 March 2009

Doing this weekly strip makes me sick. Anyway, I've got too much on right now to be busting my balls for people who couldn't give a flying toss about what I'm doing. I'm not getting paid, or any recognition, if anything I'm giving myself a bad reputation on account of how bad the strips are turning out. You won't see the weeklies ever again, and Gentleman Ghost, if you're listening, I'm sorry.

Thursday, 26 February 2009

A volunteer at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh (the venue for the recent not-so-successful Comics Fare), found one of my little business card things in the shop there and very kindly got in touch to tell me she liked my website and would like to put a comic of mine in her magazine Mind The Gap. There were a bunch of themes, but the one I chose was Fucking Christmas. Note how the strip has nothing to do with it.Also, you should have a look at the Paper Jam Comics Collective blog, I hear it's fab.

Thursday, 19 February 2009

More illustrations for Narc. These are both going in the March 09 issue, the first is for the NewcastleGateshead comedy festival thing that's happening soon, the second is for another Retrospective article, this time for a local punk band called Hurrah! Enjoy.

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

So me and Gary went to Edinburgh over the weekend for the second Zine-O-Rama comics/poetry/performance/gallery/zine fair, at the Forest Cafe. We got a stall for free and had lots of wares and a kick-ass display to entice the customers. We stayed with Gary's friend Dan, a splendid fellow who lives in a big lovely flat, where we were fed some delicious traditional Scottish porridge for breakfast two mornings in a row.

Despite all of this, the weekend was pretty disappointing. When we arrived we were asked by the organiser to help lug tables about for the stalls, before even really saying hello or introducing ourselves. Thankfully we only needed to move about four of them because nobody turned up except us, the Mallard crew and a Canadian guy called Hamish (who, incidentally, went off somewhere mid-way through the Saturday to teach people how to make books, and didn't come back until just before we gave up for the day). The Mallard crew sensibly decided to go home before the Saturday had even ended. Kudos, betrayers.

Now it's not that everyone wasn't perfectly civil, or that we didn't meet some really nice, cool people or didn't sell anything, because they were, and we did. But sitting in a cafe for two days straight while you watch a bunch of people way cooler than you dressed in clothes that they've made themselves, hair that they've cut themselves, with slogans spray painted on like Boycott Israeli Goods and World Trade Is A Death Machine - and you're sitting there with your colourful robot postcards and copies of the Gentleman Ghost, wearing a shirt that was ironed by your girlfriend and glasses that you bought from Specsavers, you start to feel A) Extremely unhip and B) Like you're ever so slightly out of your element.

Besides anything, mostly these hipsters only turned up for a vegan wrap and a bizarre Argentinean "herbal tea" (incidentally, I had a warm cashew and salad wrap and a vegetarian coconut curry, both of which were unbelievably delicious). Our sales were pretty much to people who just wandered over with vague curiosity, because apparently NOBODY besides us knew the thing was on. It's a shame because, had it been better promoted, it could've been killer. There was a bit of DIY hot-desking as the weekend went on, and we met some new faces, which was refreshing, because looking at Gary Bainbridge for any extended period of time has been known to give you vertigo.

The man himself assures me that last year's was better organised, with more people, in a different (bigger) room, and that our turning up should be validated by this bar that was so deceptively set to rise as time went by. But this reassurance was outweighed by the pain of a wisdom tooth growing in, an ulcer on my tongue, the muscle ache from sleeping anywhere besides my bed at home, and the waking up with a nosebleed when my sinuses exploded in the wee hours. I felt, and still feel, like my entire soul has been ripped out through my nostrils, been kicked in by a thousand angry Doc Martens, spat on and stuffed back inside through my rectum.

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

So the Launch Event is tonight (see below), and heroic printer Jonny did indeed pull through, meaning I'll have these wares for sale. Extremely nervous about playing, as usual, but even more so this time around because I woke up in a practically comatose state of snot and pain this morning. My throat feels like a Black and Decker work surface and I'm still not really finished writing one of the songs I'm playing. Decided on a bit of a dramatic opener for the set too, so if my voice does decide to give up it'll be after this song I think.

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Also hoping to be armed with these business card thingies so I can sweet talk people into going on my site without the actual talking bit. However, the harrowing words "best laid plans..." come to mind.

This is the set of four postcards of robots I mentioned. Sorry for the rubbish image quality. Praying our heroic printer Jonny can pull through and do them up for me so I won't have to shell out assloads of cash. The titles of the postcards (printed on the back) are, from left to right, top to bottom: Strange New World, It's The End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Scared), Crumpet Timer & Greed of the Mechanical Man. I'll try to sell them fairly cheap in relation to how much printing costs. Watch this space.

Monday, 19 January 2009

I created this to go in the February issue of local music magazine Narc, it'll be coupled with a retrospective article on the band Crane. Have a wee gander, should be interesting to see it in print. It's free from RPM and places if anyone is even remotely interested...

Friday, 16 January 2009

The fourth issue of the Travelling Man comics group anthology is soon to be released. The issue is called You Will Have To Wait... And That and all stories are linked in one sub/super-liminal way to a variety of random objects that frequenters brought down one night. These items range from magic juggling balls, to a massager, to a magic eightball (which is responsible for our title). It's cracking stuff, from contributors old and new.

But most importantly, there will be a launch night, similar to the one for our last one. This is taking place at The Telegraph behind Newcastle Central Station on Tuesday Feb 3rd at 7:00pm. It will cost the general public £2, and they will receive a copy of the comic on entry, as well as a bunch of free cakes and sweets and the joy of watching live performances from Echo Ave. and The Stillwells.

Monday, 12 January 2009

First post and lots to talk about. I'm currently working on two sets of four postcards. One of robots and one of monsters. They will be available for purchase from my website (link to the left) and Etsy shop, as well as at this year's Zine-O-Rama in Edinburgh on 7th and 8th of February. I've also just finished one, possibly two, illustrations that will feature in the February issue of Narc magazine. I'll have pictoral updates on my real website as and when.